Tax Rebate and Dividend Payout in Bangladesh

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of the introduction of 20% tax rebate in 2002 for certain firms on the dividend policy of firms potentially qualifying for this rebate in Bangladesh. A balanced panel data set of 63 non-financial firms of Bangladesh for 14 （1998-2011） years from the Dhaka stock exchange is used for this purpose Newey-West estimator is used to estimate a logit model and the specified model uses binary values of 0 and 1 to identify if it met the tax rebate threshold. The explanatory variables are finn size, log of market value to face value ratio and profitability. A dummy variable was used to separate the pre-rebate period （2003 and before） from post-rebate period （after 2003）. The dummy variable turned out to be insignificant indicating that introduction of the tax rebate had no impact on dividend policy of qualifying firms.     

Workplace isolation and job performance： A study on carpet weaving women

Workplace isolation has been recognized as a critical issue in organizational theory. Studies have found that employees who felt isolated might also show low performance in their organizations. However, there is very little empirical research about the relationship between perceived isolation and job performance, and most of the studies were conducted on salespeople working in the virtual offices. In this study, it is aimed to investigate the relationship between workplace isolation and job performance in terms of productivity and emotional outcomes of carpet weaver women. In order to do this, job performance of a sample of 238 employees who were exposed to a radical workplace change was analyzed. The means of the performance variables before and after five years of the workplace change were statistically compared via paired sample t-tests and the results indicated significant differences between pre and post means of the performance variables. A qualitative research was also carried out through a number of in-depth interviews with the carpet weavers to enrich the breadth and depth of the findings. Findings of the qualitative study replicated the results of the quantitative study that monotonous and unsocial working conditions lowered the job performance of the employees.     

Relationship marketing in health organizations and its effect on customer loyalty

This study was carried out to determine the role of relationship marketing in health organizations with regard to providing customer loyalty and to evaluate the views of patients related to relationship marketing activities. In this study, a questionnaire was applied to 371 patients in Kadlk0y Universal Hospital, which is a private hospital in Istanbul. As a result of the correlation analysis between the satisfaction level from hospital and customer loyalty, it was seen that there is a medium level positive relation between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The important implications of this study can be stated as follows： Keeping existing patient is significant as much as gaining new patient, the variables being effective for providing customer loyalty can show difference from one patient to another, the image of health organization is significant for providing customer loyalty, and customer loyalty can be acquired by making continuous communication with patients.     

The relationship between national saving and domestic investment in economy of Iran

In this paper, the relationship between national savings and domestic investment is examined in order to determine the degree of international capital mobility in Iran＇s economy over the sample period （1959-2007）. To this end, first the savings and investment correlation as postulated by Feldstein and Horioka was revisited using the recently developed bound testing approach （ARDL）. Amongst the key results, was a significant and robust positive association between the ratio of gross domestic investment to gross domestic product and the ratio of national savings to gross domestic product. Next, the coefficient of ECM derived from the ARDL test showed that the speed of adjustment in the estimated models was relatively high and has the expected significant and negative sign. The results indicate that deviation from the long-term path was corrected by approximately 63 percent over the following year. In addition, the savings-investment correlation relationship is examined in terms of an error correction model in order to gain some insight into the degree of capital mobility. The results show that savings and investment are to a great extent co-integrated. In other words, there is a significant long-run relationship between savings and investment in the Iranian economy. Also, the long-run relationship between these variables shows a low degree of capital mobility in Iran, because government policies have had no considerable effect on the savings-investment gap in Iran. The empirical findings suggest that liberalizing both the exchange rate system and interest rates and facilitating capital flow would increase international capital mobility.     

Uncertainty and Corporate investment： An Empirical Analysis of China＇s Manufacturing Firms

With the measurement of volatility of a firm＇s stock returns uncertainty, the paper examines the investment behavior of China＇s manufacturing firms over the period of 1998-2003, and studies the relationship between uncertainty and corporate investment by using the 2SLS re, gression method. The empirical results indicate that there are significantly positive relationships between total uncertainty and investment, and market uncertainty and investment, but the relationship between firm-specific uncertainty and investment is not significantly positive.     

An Empirical Study on Relationship between Corporation Performance and Capital Structure

By using data of listed companies in both Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets in 2001, this paper analyzes the relationship between corporation performance and capital structure. Empirical study finds that there is a strong correlation between corporate performance and financial structure： （1） Corporation performance is positively related to debt ratio; （2） When debt ratio is between 24.52% and 51.13%, corporate performance has a quadratic or cubic correlation passively related to debt ratio.     

Does Foreign Direct Investment Affect the Growth of Local Firms？ The Case of China＇s Electrical and Electronics Industry

Does foreign direct investment(FDI) into developing countries affect the growth of local firms in host countries? Using a dataset of 38 sectors in China’s electrical and electronics industry,in this paper,we analyze whether FDI has a positive effect on local firms,with technology spillovers,added value and increasing total factor productivity,or a negative, market stealing,effect.Estimating the relationship between growth of local firms and investment of foreign firms,our results show that FDI is likely to have a negative impact on the growth of local firms in sectors with large disparities in technology and less experience in business.Therefore,local firms lacking in technology need to find markets with no competition from foreign firms or determine strategies to compensate technology disparities.     

Contractual relationships in family firms： An agency theory interpretation from a managerial perspective

This study examines the contractual relationships from a managerial point of view by a sample of 55 family firms in an industrial zone in Turkey. The results show that the type of contract （i.e., behavior or outcome-based） is not affected by a professional manager＇s tenure, position and his/her education level. It is also presented that the type of contract does empirically not have a relationship with information asymmetry and risk taking/uncertainty in a family firm setting. Furthermore, its relationship to goal conflict and job complexity is weak and negative, which necessarily means that any increase in goal conflict or job complexity requires an outcome-based contract to be written between an owner and a professional manager. Yet, only goal conflict is significant in explaining the type of contract. From the managerial perspective, these findings imply that the agency theory is not suitable for relatively small family firms.     

The Relationship Between Government Policy and Financial Performance： A Study on the SMEs in Iraq

The study examined the relationship between government policies and financial performance in small and medium enterprises （SMEs） in Iraq. The study aimed at establishing the relationship between government policies and financial performance of SMEs. In the Republic of Iraq, it is estimated that 99% of the business entities are SMEs. They also contribute to GDP and provide employment. Notwithstanding the recognition of the important roles SMEs play in Iraq, their development is largely constrained by a number of factors, such as the existence of laws, regulations, and rules that impede the development of the sector. The study provided some relevant recommendations to policy makers, development agencies, entrepreneurs, and SME managers to ascertain the appropriate strategy to improve the SME sector in Iraq.     

Do High-technology Exports Cause More Technology Spillover in China？

The volume of China’s high-technology exports has grown sharply since the implementation of its export promotion strategy "Revitalizing Trade through Science and Technology" in 1999.This paper investigates whether technology spillover effects are greater for hightechnology exports than for primary manufactured goods exports.We present a generalized multi-sector spillover model to identify both between spillover effects from exports towards non-exporters and within-spillover effects among export sectors.Using panel data for 31 provinces in China over the period from 1998 to 2005,we find that although high-technology export sectors have higher productivity compared with other sectors,this productivity advantage does not lead to technology spillover to both domestic sectors and other export sectors,and export technology spillover mainly derives from traditional export sectors rather than high-technology export sectors.As such findings can be largely attributed to the fact that China’s high-technology exports depend significantly on processing trade by foreign- invested firms,policy implications are discussed in relation to how to best promote the role of China’s high-technology exports during economic expansion.     

From State to State: Quasi-privatization and Firm Performance

This paper uses a sample of Chinese listed companies whose controlling shareholders have changed from government agencies to state-owned enterprises＇ （SOEs）, to examine whether reducing government intervention while maintaining government＇s ultimate control could improve firm performance. The results show that the overall performance of these firms improves after the transfer of their controlling shareholders, due to improvements in both operating and non-operating performance. When we separate all samples into solely SOEs and other SOEs based on the controlling shareholder, we find that operating performance improved significantly in the solely SOE group, whereas non-operating performance improved significantly in the SOE group. In addition, we identify sources of performance improvement from two perspectives： corporate governance and related party transactions. The results imply that the Chinese Government should continue to decentralize control and, at the same time, continue to monitor firm operating efficiency.     

Financial Performance of SMEs Evidence on the Influence of Environmental Uncertainty： A Conceptual Framework

The purpose of this study is to understand the association between environmental uncertainty and financial performance of small and medium enterprises （SMEs）. Current study describes the influence of environmental uncertainty on the financial performance of SMEs in lraq. The objective of this study was to assess the influence of environmental uncertainty on financial performance of SMEs. SMEs play an important economic role in many countries. In Iraq for example, the available data from the Central Organization for Statistics （COS） indicate that private sector in Iraq consists primarily of SMEs where those companies represent 99% of all companies in lraq and this sector contributed over 50% of new jobs created. Despite their significance, facing competitive business environment, SMEs are required to develop innovation strategy in order to sustain competitive advantage. SMEs also are faced with the threat of failure with past statistics indicating that three out five fail within the first few months. This study sought to understand how SMEs manage the challenges they face. These challenges seem to change （evolve） according to different environmental uncertainty conditions. In this study, authors will develop an empirical model that can be applied in other sectors to improve financial performance of SMEs in lraq.     

Marketing and Territorial Factors： An Integrated Study of the Accommodation Choice in the Island of La Palma

The literature has highlighted the relevance of segmenting the tourism market as a start point for developing the right tourism policy recommendations. The present study examines the rural tourism market on the island of La Palma （Canary Islands） and its relationship with territorial factors. Specifically, it attempts to establish the role played in tourists＇ accommodation location choice by territorial and related factors （for instance, the area of the island, proximity to the beach, hours of sunshine, etc.） compared to other factors. A sample of 316 tourists who holidayed in rural tourism accommodation in La Palma during the period from July to September in 2007 was selected for this purpose. The methodology consisted of a preliminary analysis of the associations between the variables and their modalities, followed by a multiple correspondence analysis （MCA）. The results of the study allow to conclude that the weight of territorial variables in the choice of destination and accommodation location can vary substantially depending on the market segment considered.     

The adoption of strategic marketing practices： A comparison between New Zealand and Chinese manufacturers

This article compares the extent to which ten basic ＂textbook＂ strategic marketing practices are being used among manufacturing firms in New Zealand and China. Data was collected via questionnaire and a total of 145 and 89 usable responses were received from firms employing more than 50 people in each country respectively. The results indicate that many of the basic strategic marketing practices which are typically advocated in the mainstream academic literature have been similarly and quite widely adopted by manufacturers in both countries. However, the results also suggest that, albeit in different areas, there is still scope for manufacturers in both New Zealand and China to embrace strategic marketing more fully.     

Managerial Ownership and Intellectual Capital Efficiency： Evidence From Poland

This article contributes to the corporate governance and intellectual capital literature and examines the relationship between managerial ownership and intellectual capital efficiency （ICE）. The results were obtained by investigating a sample of 1,057 firm-year observations and 292 companies listed on the Warsaw stock exchange between 2008 and 2013. Since the data span covers six years, panel data analysis （fixed-effects model） is employed. The empirical analysis indicates that managerial ownership is negatively related to human capital efficiency （HCE）, which is partly consistent with some previous studies. As such, it indicates the entrenchment effect of insider ownership. Moreover, the study concludes that these and previous results on the relationship between managerial ownership and IC efficiency are not robust due to ICE measures, which now are employed in research.     

Linkage between stock volatility and corporate bond yield spread in Thailand

This paper studies the relationship between stock volatility and corporate bond yield spread in Thai market by using Campbell and Taksler （2003） panel data regression approach. The results show that the equity volatility＇s variables, such as finn＇s idiosyncratic risk, market risk, individual stock return and market return, are matter to explain the corporate bond yield spread. Surprisingly, these variables could explain the spread better than credit rating variables. Furthermore, during bear market period, only corporate bond yield spreads in financial finns are increasing significantly. Some of the deterministic yield spread parameters such as level and slope of interest rate also alter from bull market period.     

对盈利质量的需求与中国资本市场的基本面分析

It was reported that Chinese fund managers are patiently planning for the long-term with expectations that China‘s market conditions will improve, recognizing that regulators continue to take steps to improve corporate transparency. This paper discusses the relevance of high quality publicly available earnings information, how accounting standards influence the quality of reported earnings, and how capital market participants act as monitoring forces for earnings quality. Using the U.S. market as a benchmark, this paper considers earnings quality characteristics and monitoring forces in the context of the Chinese market. My overarching premise is that high quality analysis of high quality accounting information is crucial for the efficient flow of resources through a capital market. Thus it is instrumental to the growth of China‘s financial market and its economy. To this end, the paper summarizes potential impediments to high quality earnings and high quality analysis in China.     

Financial Development, Economic Growth and Adaptive Efficiency： A Comparison between China and Pakistan

The strong economic growth in China is difficult to reconcile with its inefficient financial system. The puzzle of China＇s financial development and growth can be explained through a dynamic criterion of adaptive efficiency, rather than through allocative efficiency. Using the framework of an autoregressive distributed lag model, the present paper tests the hypothesis that the GDP growth rate is dependent on financial development along with other variables in China and Pakistan. The hypothesis cannot be rejected in both cases. However, the results show that economic growth has a negative relationship with credit to the private sector in China. We conclude that financial development is a source of China＇s high growth rate and that the banking system is still under an evolutionary process, involving the pursuit of social objectives instead of the sole objective of profit maximization. Our results provide some implications for other developing countries like Pakistan.     

How Good Is Corporate Governance in China？

Based on the revised OECD Principles of Corporate Governance of 2004 and China＇s regulatory framework, we develop a corporate governance index （ CGI） to measure overall corporate governance and disclosure practices of the 100 largest listed companies in China. The results show that Chinese companies have been making progress in corporate governance reform and there is significant difference in CGI between the top and the bottom companies＇ performance. Among the six parts of CGl, Chinese listed companies perform better in disclosure and transparency, but show weakness in board of supervisor and stakeholders roles. Further tests show that the improvements in corporate governance of state-owned enterprises have resulted in some initial signs of success.